Obtaining my Carte de Séjour/Tître de Séjour

I arrived in Bordeaux on September 28, 2016, with a year-long renewable visa.

After living in France for several months, I went through the OFII process where my visa was officially validated and I was given my tître de séjour. I was told that two months prior to the expiration of my visa, I could send in the required documents to the préfecture to ask for a renewal.

OFII advised me to wait until the very last possible day (July 28) to hand in my required documents, as this would increase the validity of my future tître de séjour by a couple of months.

So, I followed OFII’s advice and waited until the very last day to turn in my documents. You can either mail in your documents, or drop them off at the préfecture directly. Because I wanted to wait until the last possible second but still ensure everything was submitted on time, I turned in my documents directly to the préfecture.

OFII nor the préfecture ever sent me a notification to send in these documents or what was required of me, so if you’re in the same boat, you’re going to have to research this on your own and be very mindful of your due dates!

Here is what was required of me: (make sure to send copies of all of these and keep the originals for yourself, you will later have to bring in a copy of everything you have sent to the préfecture to your follow-up appointment, so keep track of everything)

Visa

Justificatif d’état civil et de nationalité

Passport identity page

Birth certificate

if you are married, a copy of your spouse’s identity card

Justificatif de domicile datant de moins de 3 mois

This can be an electricity bill, gas bill, telephone bill, internet bill, quittance de loyer, etc

Justificatif de mariage (a copy of your French l’acte de mariage certificate, even if you got married abroad, you will need a transcription of your marriage that has been registered with the French government)

A déclaration that you and your spouse are not living in a polygamous relationship

Communauté de vie: a declaration signed by both you AND your spouse that you live in “vie commune” and documents proving this (such as a housing contract, EDF bill, RIB, etc.)

In addition to all of your documents, you must send a prepaid envelope which you can find at any post office. This envelope will later be used to send your récepisse and notify you of your follow-up appointment. If you do not send this envelope, your request for renewal will be considered invalid and the préfecture will not send you anything back.

I scrambled everything together the very last day, which I do not recommend–I was a stress ball. Nonetheless, all of my documents fit nicely in a large brown envelope, which you can buy at any tabac.

I then brought my envelope to the prefecture where there was a large glass box specifically designated for my type of request. After clearly writing my name and address on the envelope, I slipped it in the box and went on my way back home.

A few weeks later, I received my récépissé in the prepaid envelope I had given to the préfecture in addition to a convocation for an appointment the following month.

The récépissé was a piece of paper with my identity photo on it and a stamp from the préfecture. It had basically all the same information as a TDS but stated it was valid from 29/09/2017 (one day after the expiration of my original TDS) to 28/03/2018. For the time being, the récépissé would serve as my TDS.

The convocation had my appointment time as well as which window I would report to at the préfecture, plus a list of documents that I needed to bring: (It also stated that my husband needed to be at the appointment with me.)

Finally, the attestation from OFII that you have followed the “contrat d’accueil et d’intégration” and that you followed the required formations

I had everything except the “avis d’imposition” which was a document about our declared taxes. JP and I went to cité administrative to get this and thank goodness he was there because I was so lost through this process. Eventually, after talking to a few people and getting our login information from the office, he was able to get a copy of this document.

The appointment day came and everything went smoothly. There was barely any wait time and the préfecture, though crowded, was organized in the morning.

To my surprise, I was told I would be receiving 2-year carte de séjour! I thought I would just be getting a CDS valid for one year and have to do this whole process all over again the following year, but no! The person helping us said I would receive a letter in the mail when my tître de séjour was ready for pick up.

Four weeks later, I received a convocation letting me know that my CDS was ready and I could pick it up during a specific time window from Monday-Friday. There was also a notice that I would need to have €269 worth of “timbres fiscaux” to obtain my CDS.

I should have expected these fees but as nothing had been mentioned beforehand, I didn’t think about it. (My OFII fees the previous year were €250 and I foolishly thought this meant I was covered).

Because my récépissé was valid through March, I waited to purchase the timbres fiscaux (which you can find at most tabacs) for several months. My récépissé worked fine and I traveled to both Denmark and the U.S. and back to France with it without running into any issues.

Finally, in late January I purchased the timbres fiscaux and was ready to pick up my CDS.

I brought JP with me to my appointment which wasn’t necessary per the convocation’s requirements but I’m so glad he was there because the prefecture was a mess compared to the last time we had been.

Everyone who has to pick up a tître de séjour/carte de séjour is given the same time frame and no specific appointment. This led to a huge unorganized blob of a line with aggressive and impatient people. People were trying to cut in line, push, etc.

We waited in line for about an hour and fifteen minutes before finally reaching a window with an employee.

Once there, I turned in my timbres fiscaux and récépissé and received my CDS in less than two minutes.

And finally, we left the préfecture!

I am now valid in France for the next two years (okay, technically October 2019 but I’m rounding up) and have a pretty little government issued card to prove it!

It’s a big relief this is all taken care of…at least of the next year and a half or so.

What about all of you? How has getting your official documents been?

Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo

Daley

Obtaining my Carte de Séjour/Tître de Séjour was last modified: March 7th, 2018 by Daley

3 comments

MajMay 24, 2018 at 8:57 am

Hi Daley,
Thanks once again for sharing us your experiences; i have read your posts from ofii process to this one. Im getting more precise requirements from your blog posts than the prefecture website tbh.
Im currently on my récépissé ( my recent tds is a sticker inside my passport as well) and its my first time applying for my “renouvellement de TDS”.. my husband, who is french, and i are planning to visit Spain next month. You hve mentioned you were able to travel to other shengen country and US then back to france with just your récépissé, do you think it’s because you have a US pssport or the récépissé serves as an actual “visa” while waiting for the card?

Hi Maj,
I’m so glad you’re finding my posts helpful!
I was traveling with a combination of my US passport and récépissé though I don’t think me being American gave me special privileges.
When I did take a trip recently to Italy and came back through France I passed border control and gave the agent both my carte de séjour and passport. I asked him if I was allowed to travel just with my carte de séjour and he told me I always need to travel with both the passport and CDS.
I believe the récépissé is supposed to serve as your temporary TDS so as long as you’re traveling with this and your passport, I think you should be okay.
Hope this helps!
Daley

Oh wow. Reading this just has me so happy for you bu so riled up and angry at the Prefecture in Lyon. First off, I applied for my titre de Sejour as the wife of a French Husband in the beginning of may, I was told to wait for 6 months before coming in to hand in my application, I got upset and screamed and asked what law stipulated that waiting time. Obviously none, so the officer at the time hesitantly issued one that was valid from the 11th of May until the 10th of August. I was told I’ll receive a notification when the card was ready and up until date, I have not heard anything from them. Back track to the 23rd of July, I went into the Prefecture on an appointment to ask about the whereabouts of my CDS and was told they couldn’t find my file. After getting upset and stern, they found it and told me that some documents were amiss, my first reactions was bullshit and my second reaction was at what point was I going to be notified of this development seeing as there were only 17 days left until the expiration of my recipisse. I went back home with a convocation letter that was given to me and I had been told I didn’t need to get an appointment to bring the said missing documents. Upon getting all the documents together, I went back there on the 30th of August, only to be told I needed to get a ticket to be seen by anybody, at this point, I lost it, started screaming and I was asked to be escorted by security.
It is interesting to read your account of the same application especially because I have lived with my husband for 2 years prior to our wedding and I’ve been asked continuously to prove we’ve lived together for up to 6 months. I am certain that the treatment I’ve gotten are owing to the fact that I am a Black African who is simply being discriminated against.
I have had to take the case to an Immigration Lawyer, whom I hope will deal with the issue.
It was nice reading your post and I hope this sort of treatment will be extended to people of Black and African descent in the near future.
P.s I still don’t have my CDS and no information as to when it will be ready, after applying on the 11th of May and downloading all the documents of my 26 years in Life.

Daley

Who Am I ?

I’m Daley, a romantic stuck in the wrong decade. As a result, reality never quite meets expectations. Until my semester abroad, when I met the love of my life in Bordeaux, France.
I’m young, in love and newlywed! This blog chronicles both my setbacks and successes through travel, adventure, and love. Join me as I figure out what life is all about in The Daley Diaries.